The structure of
the VMware Validated Design documentation reflects the best practices in
designing and deploying a data center that is capable of automated workload
provisioning. The documentation components of the validated design are
organized according to the audience and deployment stage. You use the documents
in a specific order.

VMware Validated
Design Documentation Flow

Architecture
Overview

The first part of a VMware
Validated Design is
Architecture
Overview and it introduces the terms and components in the design.

Architecture Overview
Information

Section Attribute

Description

Guide

VMware Validated Design Reference
Architecture Guide

Purpose

■

Introduce the
fundamentals and components in the SDDC design.

■

Provide
information about the layered structure of the SDDC.

■

Describe the
building modules and basic behavior of each management component.

Audience

Cloud architects and cloud administrators

Detailed
Design

After you learn about the
basic modules in the SDDC design, you proceed with detailed design of the
management components and the required infrastructure.

Detailed Design
Information

Section Attribute

Description

Guide

VMware Validated Design Reference
Architecture Guide

Purpose

■

Provide complete
details about the configuration of each layer and of the components that are a
part of the layer.

■

Describe available
design alternatives.

■

Provide design
decisions to reflect the main design issues and the rationale behind a chosen
solution path.

Audience

Cloud architects and cloud administrators

Planning and
Preparation

After you understand the
details of the design, you plan your environment according to the requirements
of the design so that you can deploy the designed SDDC directly without
additional testing and troubleshooting efforts.

Planning and
Preparation Information

Section Attribute

Description

Guide

VMware Validated Design Planning and
Preparation Guide

Purpose

Collect all
requirements that your environment must meet so that you can follow a VMware
Validated Design to create an SDDC. The
Planning and
Preparation section provides prerequisites for the following areas: